1

Kira couldn’t breathe as she stared down at the paper in front of her. The world stopped whirling. At least, her world did.

No, not stopped. Turned upside down. Made night day, and day night.

The words weren’t true. They just couldn’t be true.

Some terrible mistake. A monstrous error.

The print ran together on the paper. She’d listened to the doctor, then demanded to see the results in black and white. The form looked official. The words made no sense.

“I want another test,” she said.

“We ordered a second test to confirm. Different labs. Same results,” Dr. Warner said from behind his desk. “I’m sorry.” He paused, then added, “You didn’t know you were adopted? I probably should have said something to your mother before giving you the results, but …”

His words trailed off.

Kira knew, though, what he meant to say. Her mother was too ill to take any bad news.

She stared down at the results again. No match. No match of any kind. She couldn’t be a donor. She’d been so sure …

Then instant playback. You didn’t know you were adopted?

Her heart pounded. She put a hand on the desk to keep standing. “I wasn’t adopted. I know every detail of my birth. I had a hole in my heart … There was surgery … Eastside Hospital. I have a birth certificate with my footprint on it.” She was babbling. But then so was he. His words … his conclusions … were incomprehensible.

She’d undergone a blood test just three days ago to determine whether she could donate a kidney to her mother. Every other avenue had failed. Dialysis was no longer doing the job. Infections occurred with increasing frequency. Her mother was on the transplant list, but they had been waiting nine months already, and she was nowhere near the top. When Kira offered to donate one of her kidneys, her mother refused to consider it, although she was in the end stages of kidney failure.

In desperation and without her mother’s knowledge, Kira asked the doctor to make the tests to determine whether they were compatible. Then she would convince her mother to agree to it.

She’d been warned she might not be a match although they were mother and daughter, but this …

“I’m sorry, Ms. Douglas. There’s no doubt. You are not Mrs. Douglas’s genetic daughter. I just assumed …”

Not only were they not a match, they weren’t even blood relatives. According to the test.

For the barest fraction of a second, doubt crept into her mind. Maybe that was why her mother was adamant about refusing a kidney donation from Kira.

But then she dismissed the idea. Her mother was honest to a fault. A lie never solved anything, she often said. She certainly would have known that adoption wouldn’t have changed Kira’s feelings toward her. It had been the two of them for thirty-two years. Katy and Kira against the world.

How could such a mistake happen? Maybe someone else’s blood was sent by mistake to two labs.

“I want another test,” she said. “I want blood taken today, now, and rushed to a third lab. I don’t care about the cost.”

“Believe me, we are very careful.”

Anger boiled up inside her. It wasn’t true, and she knew it. “Are you going to conduct another test? Or do I have to go somewhere else?”

There was nowhere else. She knew it, and he knew it. Her mother’s insurance was limited at best. Memorial East was the designated hospital for the plan her mother had, and even then the insurance covered only some expenses. Duplicate blood tests at another hospital would definitely not qualify.

Kira closed her eyes for a moment, mentally seeing their checking account go down. Her mother’s house had been heavily mortgaged as medical bills mounted. Kira had moved in with her to save money, and they were still in debt to the hospital.

“All right,” the doctor finally said reluctantly. “I’ll send in a technician for another blood sample.”

“I have the birth certificate,” she insisted again.

He didn’t reply. He rose from his desk. “There are other patients waiting, Ms. Douglas, but I’ll contact you the second the new test comes in.”

She nodded.

He hesitated a moment, then added, “Stay here and I’ll send in a technician for the blood.” Another pause, then, “Kira, they’ve moved your mother up on the list.”

Good news. Bad news. Good news she was closer to the top of the transplant list. Bad that she was worsening so quickly that they moved her up.

He left. Still trying to comprehend what he’d just said, she waited impatiently for the technician. She wanted to rush to her mother and ask questions. She wanted to look into her eyes and see herself in them. Disbelief still stunned her, but anger—raw and jagged—was building inside. She wanted to sweep the doctor’s desk clean with her hands. She wanted to throw one of his many framed photos against the wall. He had been so calm, so matter-of-fact as he said words that made her life a lie and possibly condemned her mother.

The technician came in. She forced herself to be civil when she wanted to scream at him. How could they have messed up the last test?

When he left, she followed him out in a daze. She’d been given time off this morning for the doctor’s appointment, but she had to cover a meeting at city hall. She couldn’t lose her job now that medical costs were spiraling upward.

She paused outside the office door and looked down. The paper was crushed in her clenched hand. She carefully straightened it out, then glanced at it again. It was wrong. Someone had made a terrible error.

But if … if …

If she wasn’t Kira Douglas, who was she?

More important, who would save her mother?

Dammit, she was Kira Douglas, and she could prove it. In fact, she would prove it.